Chaotic Fate
by hyrushoten
Summary: With the advent of the Fifth Grail War Fuyuki City stands paralyzed in the face of a rash of comas and murders.  What if the city council decided to do something about this? Their decision is to call on one Ranma Saotome to deal with the situation.
1. Prologue

Chaotic Fate

A Fate/Stay Night & Ranma ½ crossover

Disclaimer: The characters and setting of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Fate/Stay-Night is a product of Kinoko Nasu, and Type-Moon. I am merely playing with their creations and not making any money in doing so.

Author's notes: This story is set after the end of the manga in Ranma ½ and the beginning of the Fifth Grail War in Fate/Stay Night. I've only gone through the first two routes in F/S N and so will largely ignore the Heaven's Feel route. That aside I'll try to be as accurate as I can be, so point out something if it doesn't match canon, but in the end I have a pretty clear idea on where I want this story to go, so I might have to ignore canon at times. Otherwise this is my first story, so let me know how I can improve and let me know what I'm doing right.

Prologue:

Fuyuki city in the days leading up to the Fifth Grail War was a troubled city, what with all the people hospitalized due to "gas leaks" and the occasional bloody murder caused by some lunatic with a blade. It stands to reason then that Fuyuki's city council would seek some way to deal with these mysterious and dangerous events. As some of those same councilmen are rather old and had been on the council ten years ago, during the Fourth Grail War, they remember that the last time mysterious events of this nature occurred the end result was a huge conflagration that claimed hundreds of lives. So it should come as no surprise that there was a great deal of anxiety at the weekly council meeting as they all tried to come up with some solution to this problem. Amid the usual cries for increasing the police budget, firing the police department for being utterly incompetent, and bemoaning the falling standards of society there was one voice, not of reason, but of hope. This lone councilman offered a plan that not only had the potential, however small, of dealing with the crisis, but, more importantly, it would provide an excellent scapegoat if, as was much more likely, everything went to hell. This plan was actually very simple and even, perhaps, traditional.

"So you want to call in some random martial artist in the hopes that he can succeed where the entire police department has failed? I know how fascinating you find that stuff but let's be serious here" Councilman Hideki Kikugawa said in response to this rather audacious plan.

The instigator of the plan, one Jiro Nakahara, retorted "Not some random martial artist, no. What we need is some way of drawing out this killer and whoever is behind these comas right? Well from everything I've heard about this particular martial artist it seems that he can't go a week without getting involved in some major, and generally weird, situation. Not only that but he is a true prodigy that recently gained the title 'kami-slayer' after he killed some phoenix king in China, destroying a mountain in the process. He should be able to deal with this killer."

"We don't have time for your tabloid fantasies, we have a serious crisis here and certainly aren't going to hire some martial artist when we could be using that money to hire professionals" Kikugawa stated in disgust.

As might be imagined this bickering continued on for awhile, at least until a key point was brought up. This all important point that managed to sway all the naysayers was that martial artists are dirt cheap and will often help out for a small pittance and thus it couldn't hurt to have this martial artist wander around town for a couple days if only to get Nakahara to shut up. With that decision the Fuyuki city council managed to, without anyone knowing it, change the fate of all those involved in the fifth Grail war

"Hello, this is Jiro Nakahara, I'm on the Fuyuki city council and I have a request for one Ranma Saotome, can I speak to him?"


	2. I ask of you, are you my master?

Chaotic Fate

Disclaimer: The characters and setting of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Fate/Stay-Night is a product of Kinoko Nasu, and Type-Moon. I am merely playing with their creations and not making any money in doing so.

Author's Notes: This story will be told from a third person subjective point of view. This means that I will only go into as much detail as the principal character (Ranma in this chapter) is likely to notice or know about.

Ch. 1: "I ask of you, are you my master?"

Ranma Saotome was engaged in what many would consider a dangerous and foolhardy activity, namely patrolling Fuyuki city late at night looking for a murderer, or perhaps it was ghosts. The old coots on the city council couldn't seem to make their minds up on just what he was supposed to be looking for. Considering his luck though Ranma expected whatever it was would try to kill him eventually. Ranma just hoped it happened soon; he much preferred a straight up fight to this game of hide-and-seek. Though Ranma had to admit that this wasn't so bad after all as he took a short break on a random rooftop.

After the Wedding Fiasco everybody was even more high-strung than normal and inevitably took out their frustration on Ranma. Ranma was hoping that a couple days break would calm people down, but could admit to himself that that was probably hoping for too much. The best he could likely hope for is that nobody decided to follow him here.

As Ranma was contemplating the idea that he might be able to go through an entire day without having to deal with anything crazy he continued on his patrol through town. As he was passing a school he felt a spike of killing intent coming from it. Ranma immediately relocated to the school rooftop and started looking around for what might have caused it.

It wasn't all that difficult as there were two men fighting each other out on the athletic field and some schoolgirl watching from the sidelines. Both of them were dressed in some weird skin-tight body suits, one blue and one red (the men of course; the girl was wearing some sort of school uniform). Blue was using a wicked looking red lance while Red was using a pair of Chinese short swords. Both of them were putting out an impressive amount of ki and seemed to be incredibly skilled as well, with some fancy moves from both of them. As Ranma continued to watch he noted that while Blue was faster and making full use of the advantages his spear offered, Red was matching him blow for blow, somehow knowing the best place to strike and the best angle to defend. Beyond that Red's swords kept getting destroyed by the powerful strikes from that red lance, but Red would somehow have another sword in hand in time launch his counter-attacks making Ranma wonder if he knew Mouse's Hidden Weapons technique. Just as it seemed that Blue was going to start pulling out the big guns though, some student stumbled onto the fight causing everybody, even that schoolgirl Ranma almost forgot about, to stop and gape for a second. Then the student took off running, and Blue apparently decided to give chase while the schoolgirl and Red started arguing with each other.

Ranma quickly moved to intercept Blue; he wasn't going to let some kid get killed right in front of him and Blue might be the killer he was looking for. He managed to slip in front of Blue about a block away from the school in a type 3 abandoned lot (lots of flat open area with some logs in a corner and high surrounding walls) while the kid continued his rather impressive sprint away.

"That's far enough Blue" Ranma stated as he blocked Blue's path, standing in a loose ready position to be able to respond to whatever Blue did.

"The hell- another person saw the fight – and why the hell are you calling me Blue?" Blue responded as he stopped to deal with Ranma.

"I thought it was pretty obvious why, or did you not look in the mirror when you were getting dressed?" Ranma shot back with an accompanying smirk, immediately pissing Blue off at the sheer mockery contained in said smirk.

"Hilarious kid, I'm Lancer and I was going to give you a painless death for being unlucky enough to stumble upon that fight, but just for that I'll make sure you suffer first" Lancer stated as a fearsome grin stole over his face and he sunk into a deep stance and brought his lance to bear on Ranma.

"So you were going to kill that kid huh," Ranma asked as he prepared to dodge out of the way. "I don't suppose you've been the one behind the other murders that happened recently?"

"Who knows? Why don't you ask the victims yourself when you join them?" Lancer retorted as he lunged at Ranma, aiming for his hip with a quick stab. Ranma was ready though and twisted around the strike, sending a quick jab into the haft of the spear to knock it off course while closing with Lancer to deliver a kidney punch. Lancer blocked the punch with the butt of his spear and tried to leap away to gain some distance. Ranma kept right with him though and started laying down a barrage of punches that Lancer blocked with his spear. This continued for 30 seconds, with Lancer forced on the defensive and unable to properly counter with Ranma so far inside his guard. Ranma managed to score several hits, but Lancer was tough and was able to weather them without much trouble. Eventually Lancer was able to knock Ranma off-balance with a particularly strong parry and take that opportunity to jump back to his preferred range.

"Damn kid, you're putting up just as good a fight as the weird Archer was, you aren't a Servant so what are you?" Lancer asked as he took stock of his injuries, nothing too bad except a nasty bruise on his left bicep that could slow his strikes down.

"What archer?" Ranma asked, as he took a breather. "All I saw was some guy using a pair of Chinese short swords. I sure as hell ain't anybodies servant. The name's Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts and I'm going to kick your ass Blue."

"It's Lancer, not Blue!"

"Yeah since Lancer sounds so much better than Blue; you aren't even using a lance. Or did you not realize? I know they can be hard to tell apart but what you're holding is a spear not a lance; so would that make you Spearer?" Ranma taunted while upgrading his smirk from merely mocking to outright ridiculing and demeaning. Lancer, or perhaps Spearer, responded predictably, snarling in rage while launching a full-on assault on Ranma. Unfortunately for Ranma, Lancer fought better when enraged and now Ranma was the one on the defensive, twisting around and batting aside all the attacks he could. Without a good way to block the strikes however Ranma quickly started to suffer from near misses and shallow cuts.

After dodging a particularly strong thrust instead of batting the spear aside Ranma grabbed it and managed, barely, to match Lancer's strength and bring the spear to a stop. Ranma was quick to capitalize on this, swinging up on the spear and using the movement to launch a powerful kick at Lancer's head. Lancer barely managed to react in time after seeing his spear stopped and could only manage to get his right shoulder in the way. The kick ended up dislocating the shoulder, but Lancer didn't let that stop him and used the fact that Ranma was now in the air and without leverage to quickly draw his spear back in. Ranma tried to let go and twist out of the way, but was in too precarious a position and the returning barbed head made a long, moderately deep cut down his left arm. The two warriors backed away from each other to take a moment to recover.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Lancer laughed, apparently thrilled with the fight. "I don't know how you're able to keep up with me, but this is an even better fight than that Archer could give me. I wish I could keep playing with you, but I really need to finish this up and go kill that other kid."

"This is a pretty good match; I don't run across that many good weapon users so it's been a real treat. So why do you gotta ruin all that by killing that kid? I mean so what if he saw you weirdo's having a fight, what's so bad about that?" Ranma asked as he poked and prodded at his arm to see how much he could use it.

"Sorry but them's the rules; this war has to remain secret so anybody who sees us fight has to be dealt with." Lancer responded as he switched his spear to his left hand, apparently deciding that Ranma wouldn't give him a chance to relocate his right shoulder.

Unnoticed by either of the warriors the blood from Ranma's cut instead of pooling at his feet was rolling across the ground, forming some sort of magic circle. As the two prepared to continue their fight, the magic circle lit up with a bright light as someone rose out of it. This new arrival immediately dashed at Lancer, who barely got his spear up before being blown away by a powerful strike from the mysterious person. As the person turned to look at Ranma, Ranma got his first good look at her. She was a beautiful foreign girl with blond hair and green eyes in a regal blue dress and armor. It wasn't just her clothes that were regal; she had a very commanding, almost unearthly presence about her. Ranma was thrown out of his contemplation as the mysterious woman asked a question.

"I am Servant Saber. By your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my master?"


	3. This is the end, Gae Bolg!

Chaotic Fate

Disclaimer: The characters and setting of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Fate/Stay-Night is a product of Kinoko Nasu, and Type-Moon. I am merely playing with their creations and not making any money in doing so.

Author's notes: Just a quick note that I edited Ch.1, adding a short description of the lot Ranma and Lancer fight in and just cleaning up and refining the chapter. There's a longer Author's note at the bottom.

Ch.2: "This is the end, Gae Bolg!"

"I am Servant Saber. By your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my Master?" Asked the blond girl who had just come out of some magic circle and blew away Lancer as Ranma tried to make sense of the situation. He failed.

"Great, I've got beautiful girls freaking teleporting in to get a piece of me! I swear if pops sold me off to some witch or demon I'm gonna pound him so hard he won't be able to walk for a week." Ranma started loudly protesting this new development while flailing his arm around, having just enough presence of mind to not aggravate the wound on his other arm.

The girl, Saber apparently, looked rather confused at this, but saw something on his hand that seemed to satisfy her. "It seems that you have misunderstood my question, but I can see that you are my Master. Please remain here and attend your wound while I deal with Lancer." At that Saber charged toward Lancer, who had taken this time to relocate his right shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Ranma yelled at Saber. "This is my fight, no way am I gonna let you take over." Saber ignored Ranma and closed on Lancer, preparing some sort of invisible wind weapon in her hands. "Hey, stop. Don't interfere with my fight!" Ranma yelled and immediately saw a flash of light and felt some pain on the back of his right hand. At the same time Saber came to a complete stop only a few feet away from Lancer with a look of intense pain whereupon she immediately backed away so that she could safely stare in complete amazement at Ranma. Ranma looked down at his hand and saw some weird red tattoo that wasn't there the last time he checked.

"I can't believe you wasted a command spell stopping your Servant from protecting you." Lancer laughed in bewilderment. "Now I get to kill you and she can't do anything to stop me."

"He is correct Master, if I were to attempt to save you I would collapse from the pain before I could reach you." Saber stated as she glared at Ranma. "Remand your foolish command and let me strike down our enemy."

Ranma was rather confused, but wasn't about to let that stop him from finishing his fight. "This is my fight and I'm the one that's going to finish it."

"Sorry, but I'm going to be the one to finish it when I kill you!" with that Lancer lunged at Ranma and Ranma danced to the side, not attempting to close just yet.

This dance continued for another minute with Lancer pushing Ranma back and stymieing his attempts to close. Frankly Ranma was beginning to get a little desperate. Lancer was easily the most skilled weapon user he had ever seen. More than Lancer's speed it was his ability to redirect and change his attacks with almost no warning and to make use of every inch of his spear that made him so dangerous.

As Ranma was thinking this he had to twist away from a thrust to his lung while he attempted a quick jab at Lancer's fingers that he had to abort as that thrust became a weak slash poised to rip his stomach open that he managed to avoid by changing his aborted jab into an elbow drop on the spear while continuing his twist so that the spear's course was altered by just enough for him to get away with the spear passing a millimeter away from his hip, cutting his clothes up even more and causing Ranma to nearly yelp as there was more resistance to his elbow drop than he was expecting.

Ranma could tell that if this kept up he would be the one to lose and likely die; Lancer's weapon just gave him too great an advantage with their skill levels so close to each other's. It was time bring out the big guns and see if he couldn't claim the range advantage. With that thought Ranma disengaged and put some distance between him and Lancer.

"Finally ready to admit defeat and let your Servant handle the fight for you?" Lancer asked with his bloodthirsty grin still on his face. "I'll admit you put up a pretty good fight for an unarmed human, but you'll need more than fists to defeat me!"

"Then let's see how you like this." Ranma cupped his hands and quickly gathered his ki and his confidence before launching his attack. "_Mouko Takabisha!_" With that Ranma thrust his hands forward and sent a raging ball of condensed ki at Lancer, noting that it was slightly smaller than normal.

While visibly surprised at this new attack Lancer reacted promptly and swatted away the ball of ki and sending it into the ground several feet away where it blasted out a foot deep hole.

"That wasn't a half-bad magic attack, but projectiles won't work on me; they'll never get past my spear." Lancer seemed willing to sit back and let Ranma test this out; probably hoping it would demoralize him or something.

"Oh? I guess I'll just have to test that won't I, Spearer?" Ranma asked as his smirk came back, leaving Lancer sputtering at Ranma's butchering of his name. Ranma immediately started launching weak _Mouko Takabisha_s at Lancer while moving around, giving them just enough heft so that they left divots in the ground when Lancer deflected them. It seemed that Lancer wasn't just boasting; it seemed to take no effort for him to deal with projectiles.

Ranma knew he was running out of options. He couldn't keep up this barrage forever and it wasn't likely to accomplish much anyway. He might be able to pull off a _Hiryū Shōten Ha_, but while Lancer could get riled up they were just short flare-ups before he cooled down again.

While Lancer was still just standing still deflecting the _Mouko Takabisha_s sent his way Ranma could tell he was getting bored and would likely start attacking him again real soon. Just as Ranma was getting ready to risk it and try for the _Hiryū Shōten Ha_ he noticed just where Lancer was standing, namely surrounded by small divots in the ground and close to a rather tall rooftop. With that and what he had observed of Lancer's behavior earlier Ranma knew he could win.

"Well that's enough playing around. Let's see how you handle a real attack." Ranma yelled as he built up a much larger _Mouko Takabisha _than any of his previous ones. "_Mouko Takabisha!"_ With that launched a ball of ki as wide as his chest at Lancer. Lancer wasn't impressed and just firmed up his stance before batting at the attack with his spear, putting more strength than before to be sure to send it far away from him.

Ranma wished he could see Lancer's face when instead of being deflected like the other ki-attacks this one blew up when Lancer hit it; Ranma having made this one much less condensed than his earlier attempts. Ranma knew that Lancer would be at best slightly singed, but the point of the attack wasn't to hurt him. Rather it was to cover Ranma's approach as he followed several steps behind the ki-attack.

Ranma had just closed within Lancer's guard while keeping in a low crouch and was wondering if his attack had worked too well when he saw the haft of Lancer's spear closing on him fast to knock him away. Instead of attempting to avoid it or redirect it like he had before, this time Ranma twisted so he was facing the same direction the spear would send him, did a short hop and met the spear with a powerful double kick. Thanks to Lancer using an extremely strong grip in an attempt to keep Ranma from redirecting his spear yet again there was just enough resistance for Ranma to launch himself forward while blowing the spear back.

Ranma had a split second to position himself so that he could catch himself in one of the divots scattered around. Ranma immediately used his momentum to launch himself back out of the divot and towards Lancer, who hadn't had time to bring his spear back around to guard.

Ranma slammed into Lancer knocking him off balance and letting Ranma regain his footing before beginning a rather nasty combo aimed at all the soft targets on Lancer's torso. Lancer was taking a beating now, but was quickly regaining his bearing and Ranma would soon find out if he had as good a read on his opponent as he thought he did.

Lancer stumbled back half a step after a particularly hard jab to his liver, but used that movement to launch himself away, going high this time to get to the rooftop and gain the high ground. A feral grin appeared on Ranma's face as everything came together. Ranma didn't let Lancer get away from him; instead launching himself as hard as he could to meet Lancer at the apex of his jump. Here in the sky Ranma was the undisputed master, almost effortlessly flowing around Lancer's panicked thrust and using the spear to spin Lancer just enough so that Ranma could pound away at his back with impunity.

Ranma managed to keep them both up there for several seconds, defying gravity before they started falling down. The whole time Ranma continued to do as much damage as he could, though Lancer was able to twist just enough to avoid any truly debilitating strikes. Ranma finished the brutal combo by driving his heels into Lancer's spine and launching off of him, giving Lancer an extra boost right before he plowed into the ground.

Ranma landed lightly off to the side, panting slightly as he took a quick glance around. Saber seemed to be a little out of it, what with her arms dangling loosely and staring at him with her mouth slightly open, although as soon as she noticed him looking at her she snapped out of it and composed herself. Ranma glanced back at Lancer, wondering what he was supposed to do now, when he was shocked to see Lancer pull himself out of the crater he had made when he landed.

Lancer was a complete mess at this point. He was hunched over and using his spear to pull himself up. Not only that but at some point his shoulder had been dislocated again and he had several cuts on his face. Nonetheless he stood up and had his bloodthirsty grin again, which looked much more intimidating now that he had plenty of blood to go with it.

"Damn, I got careless." Lancer spat out with a glob of blood. "That was a great fight kid. It really got my blood pumping, but it ends here."

"So you gonna give up? You could have done that without standing up you know?" Ranma didn't think it would be that easy, but hey it never hurt to ask.

"Ha! No, I'm going to show you just what it means to be a heroic spirit. Let's see how you fare against my noble phantasm!"

"No! Run Master, I shall blo- ugh!" Saber started to run between the two of them, but dropped to her knees in pain as the command spell took hold.

Lancer's spear started to glow and steam rose from it. More than that it started releasing the most twisted and nauseating aura Ranma had ever felt; in fact it felt less like an attack and more like… a curse. With that though Ranma immediately launched himself at Lancer, trying to put him down before he could activate his noble phantasm, whatever that was. Just as he was almost in range he could feel the energy peak and realized he wouldn't make it in time.

"This is the end, Gae Bolg!" Lancer shouted and his spear seemed to pull him along and embed itself in Ranma's heart. Everything stood still for a second before Lancer was beaned by a log to the back of his head, knocking him right into another log with Ranma's shirt draped on it and Lancer's spear driven into it. Standing next to the pile of logs behind Lancer was a shirtless Ranma.

"Huh, looks like you can't defend against projectiles you can't see; I guess you can't trust anyone these days." Ranma shook his head in mock regret.

"How the hell did you dodge that?" Lancer demanded while he flung the log off his spear and at Ranma.

"A substitution technique, obviously" Ranma responded absently-mindedly as he reclaimed his shirt when the log went past, pleased to note that the last strike hadn't damaged it anymore.

"That shouldn't work damn it!" Lancer replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma asked rather confused at what all the fuss was about.

"If I may Master," Saber said as she came to stand next to Ranma. "That spear is Gae Bolg, the spear of the Hound of Culann, said to strike the heart of its victim without fail, ignoring all defenses."

"Damn, looks like you figured out who I am already. She's right though, this spear reverses cause and effect, making the spear pierce the heart as soon as I say its name. The only way to avoid it is to be so lucky that your fate is changed to avoid it." Lancer explained in disgust.

"Well I think I actually have negative luck, but I used my substitution before you said its name, so maybe you just targeted the log instead of me?" Ranma replied with a shrug, before continuing "Now that we're done with show and tell how bout we get back to me kicking your ass?"

"Sorry kid, but I've got a cowardly master, ordering me to withdraw if somebody survives my noble phantasm; so we'll have to finish this later." Lancer said as he prepared to leap away.

"No way am I letting you get away! I know you're a killer and I'm not going to let you claim any more victims." Ranma leapt after Lancer, noting that Saber was right behind him. However Lancer was somehow able to pull ahead and Ranma lost track of him almost immediately.

"Damn! Well at least I gave him a good beating; hopefully I'll find him again before he can hurt anybody else." Ranma finally relaxed a bit now that the fight was over and glanced over at Saber when he remembered he had questions for her. "Alright, now could you tell me what the hell is going on here? What's this about a secret war and why are you calling me Master?" Ranma was really hoping this Saber chick knew what was going on cause it was obviously something major and he really wanted to be prepared this time.

"So you truly are an accidental Master." Saber muttered as she relaxed as well; for all of about a second before she started putting out an impressive amount of killing intent and got right in Ranma's face. "Before I answer your questions you will explain how you could be so foolish and thoughtless to not only risk your life but to use a command spell just so you could satisfy your battle-lust." Saber said all this in a very calm almost sweet tone that was completely at odds with her extremely angry expression.

"Man, I don't know what your problem is; did you not see my fight? I was kicking his ass so bad he ran away with his tail between his legs." Despite this confident response Ranma was beginning to sweat and back away from Saber, while wondering just how come all girls were able to do this to him.

"If you think that you are even more foolish than I thought. Perhaps I should just hogtie you and hide you away somewhere so that I can fight without having to worry that you'll find a way to kill yourself." By this point the sweet tone had been replaced with a freezing, almost glacial tone.

"Hey! What do you mean tie-"

"Silence! Do you truly think that your parlor trick would have fooled Lancer a second time?" By now Ranma had his back against a wall and was just waiting for her to pull some weapon and attack him. "How would you have avoided his noble phantasm a second time? How would you have defeated him before he could use it?" Ranma was having a rather hard time answering, what with her looming over him putting out a nasty ki aura in the shape of a freaking dragon, but he was sure he'd be able to come up with something if he could just have a second of peace to think about it.

With no answer forthcoming Saber continued her diatribe. "While I have no idea how you were able to fight almost on the same level as Lancer make no mistake; he could have killed you if you had made even the slightest mistake and can kill you at any time with his noble phantasm. Your skills are certainly impressive for a human, but Servants are on another level entirely and to attempt to fight them is certain to end in your death."

By this point Ranma had recovered from his scare, rather his exhaustion from the fight, yeah that's what it was. Finished editing his memories Ranma returned fire.

"I don't care if I might get killed; I don't run from a fight. I'll work out a counter to his technique and then I'll bring him down. Hey, stop glaring at me; I'm not going to fight him until I can figure out that counter! Geeze, you're acting like I'm going to chase him down and throw myself on his spear; I'm not that stupid. That's another thing, why are you so upset that I fought him? You go on about how I'm so reckless, but what does that have to do with you?"

"You are my Master and-" Saber began in a calmer voice when Ranma interrupted.

"Stop calling me your Master; that's just plain freaky. My name is Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts."

"Very well; I shall call you Ranma. Yes, you are something like a wild horse aren't you? No wonder you are causing me so much trouble." Saber responded with a small, decisive nod. "If I may continue my explanation? Hopefully once I have done so you will understand your error."

"I doubt it, but sure go ahead" Ranma responded, deciding to let her shot at his name go if it got her to stop breathing down his neck.

"As I was saying I called you my Master and am worried about your wellbeing beca-"

"Oh shit!" Ranma yelled, interrupting Saber. "I forgot about the kid, I've got to go make sure that Lancer guy isn't on his way to kill him. The explanations will have to wait."

Ranma immediately started roof hopping, following the kid's ki trail which was starting to fade. Saber gave a quick nod and followed right behind him, having no problem keeping up despite wearing all that armor. Once Ranma calmed down a bit he decided to get a feel for this Saber and maybe get an idea just how she compares to Lancer. Ranma nearly stumbled at what he felt when he reached out with his Ki. For one thing he was able to feel her power a lot easier than he normally could. Of course that was minor compared to just how much energy she had. She dwarfed his power levels several times over and could probably give Saffron a run for his money. Once Ranma got over his shock he took a closer look and realized why he could sense her energy so easily; some of his Ki was flowing into her somehow. Not only that but She was constantly leaking a small amount of Ki.

"So you're some sort of Ki vampire and need to keep me alive to provide the energy you need?" Ranma took a stab tying all the pieces together into a theory for why she was interested in him, at least one that didn't involve marriage contracts.

"I am not one of those vile creatures!" Saber responded with a fierce frown, looking quite upset at the accusation. "I am your Servant. I am essentially your familiar, with you providing mana for me to continue to exist in this world."

"We'll have to figure out just how Ki and this mana stuff are related later; we're here." With that Ranma jumped onto the wall of a nice old-style Japanese estate, with Saber following right behind him.

"Well, I can't sense Lancer anywhere around here, and it seems pretty peaceful. How bout you?" Ranma asked Saber, wondering if these Servants or whatever had a way to sense each other.

"I also cannot sense any sign of Lancer, it is likely he returned to his Master to report on your encounter and potentially to be healed depending on the skills of his Master." Saber responded, all business.

"Which doesn't mean that he won't get sent right back out to kill this kid while he can still track him." Ranma stated. "Guess we'll have to pull guard duty for the rest of the night to make sure."

Right then Ranma felt a very small pulse of Ki from the largest building in the estate that he would have missed if he wasn't on high alert looking for Lancer. When he looked in that direction he caught some movement inside the house, but couldn't make out what was going on.

"Shit! Lancer must have got past us!" Ranma exclaimed while jumping down and rushing for the house, although this time Saber shot in front of him and plowed right through the glass doors leading into what looked like a dining room with an attached kitchen Ranma noted as he followed a step behind her.

Author's notes: Well I'm back in time for the holidays. I tried to accomplish several things in this chapter and could use some feedback on just how well I did. The first is the fight. I was trying to show that Ranma was at a rather serious disadvantage once Lancer started taking him seriously and he won not due to skill, but by analyzing Lancer's style and predicting how he would react. I also tried to make it so that Lancer was hurt enough that it is feasible for him to resort to Gae Bolg. With Gae Bolg I believe that Lancer has to see his target to be able to use it, otherwise he could use it against anybody he's already met from any distance and win the war while sitting back and downing a beer. The substitution trick was a one-time counter though; Lancer knows to be on the look-out for it now and is good enough to see through it.

Back to what I was trying to accomplish. My major goal was to keep everybody in character, both in terms of actions and in how they speak. This chapter was actually longer, but I'm having problems writing Shirou and so cut the chapter off right before he appears. Let me know if the chapter feels too short or cuts off too abruptly and I'll add the Shirou segment on to this chapter instead of including it in the next chapter. On that note what your preferred chapter length? Should I continue with 1,000 – 5,000 word chapters or should I release 5,000-15,000 word chapters?

Finally I have a question for all you FSN gurus. Just how the hell did Lancer both know that Shirou was still alive and where to find him?


	4. I'll be the best student you've ever had

Chaotic Fate

Disclaimer: The characters and setting of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Fate/Stay-Night is a product of Kinoko Nasu, and Type-Moon. I am merely playing with their creations and not making any money in doing so.

Author's Notes: I'm alive and more importantly still writing; rejoice! I am sorry that it's taken me this long to get this chapter out and can promise that the next chapter won't take as long. Some story relevant author's notes at the bottom, but for now enjoy the story.

Ch. 3: "I'll be the best student you've ever had!"

All that met their wild charge however was that same kid that started all this, standing there holding a piece of rolled-up metal that had some ki in it, probably to make it harder. Now that Ranma got a good look at the kid Ranma realized that they were probably around the same age.

"W-Who are you? Why are you chasing me?" the kid asked with only a slight quaver in his voice while brandishing his improvised weapon.

"Hey, sorry 'bout your door, but we thought Spearer, er that guy in blue with the spear who was chasing after you, was in here 'bout ta kill ya."

Ranma stepped forward and Saber moved back and took a position where she could watch the outside, apparently willing to let Ranma handle the situation now that it was obvious that there was no real danger. "Anyways I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts and that's Saber, she's apparently my Servant or familiar or something, still not sure what that's all about." Saber for some reason seemed unhappy with Ranma's introduction; shooting one of her glares at him but not offering any comments leaving Ranma rather confused about what he did wrong. After all if she didn't want to be called Saber she should have called herself something else, right?

"A familiar… then that means you're a mage?" the kid mumbled to himself before suddenly shouting "Wait, this Spearer is still chasing me?! And how do you know about that?"

"Well of course I know he was chasing you; I was watching the fight too and saw him running after you." Ranma explained. "You should be fine now. I caught up with him and kicked his ass." As Ranma began to boast he felt Saber glaring at him again. "Er, that is I gave him a pretty good beating so he shouldn't be bothering anybody for a while." Ranma finished with a weak chuckle while scratching the back of his head.

"In that case I'm in your debt; I can't die before I realize my dream. Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Shirou Emiya and this is my house; please make yourselves at home." As Shirou was speaking he finally turned on the lights revealing that he had red hair and brown eyes. Of course it also revealed just how cut up Ranma was. "You should have said you were injured! Wait just a second while I get a first aid kit." Shirou promptly rushed out of the room before Ranma could respond.

"Well he seems like a nice enough guy, if a bit excitable." Ranma mused to himself.

"Ranma, you must exercise greater caution. You should not have revealed that I was a Servant." Saber interrupted his musings, at last revealing just why she was unhappy with his introduction.

"Why not? Does it have something ta do with this secret war or something?" Ranma asked, wondering why she expected him to know about these sorts of things when she knew he didn't have a clue what was going on, but then again everybody else did that to him as well so he shouldn't be so surprised.

"Indeed. This war must be kept secret, which means that all aspects of it must be hidden from outsiders." Saber promptly responded.

"Well he's already a part of it right? I mean Spearer's going ta try and kill him regardless of what I tell him. Besides he might know something. He seemed ta recognize what a Servant or familiar is and he can use his Ki so he's not some random dude off the street." Ranma replied, wondering if he would actually get to argue his side for once without it devolving into yelling, name calling, or an outright brawl like it usually did.

Before they could continue their argument Shirou returned with a first-aid kit and some bandages. Ranma didn't bother with the smaller cuts knowing that they'd be healed within the hour, but he did bandage up the larger cut on his arm.

"I overheard a bit of your conversation and I want to know what's going on and why people are trying to kill me." Shirou spoke up while Ranma was busy. "Does this have anything to do with the recent gas spills and murders?"

"That's what I'm here ta find out." Ranma responded when it was obvious that Saber wasn't going to say anything.

"What?" Shirou asked "Did the Mage's Association send you to investigate?"

"Don't know anything about a Mage's Association" Ranma responded. "The old coots on the city council hired me ta find and deal with whatever was causing the 'gas spills' and murdering people. I don't have a clue what's going on, just that there's some sort of secret war happening. Saber was going to explain it to me, but so far we've been too busy looking out for you to go over it."

"Well, why don't you do that now while I make the tea and snacks?" Shirou suggested, causing Ranma's and surprisingly Saber's stomachs to growl. Saber looked mortified for a brief second before regaining her composure and staring them both down, daring them to comment on it.

"That works for me." Ranma stated before turning to Saber and continuing "That way you can pretend that he can't hear you or something."

"I am opposed to this" Saber stated outright as she frowned at Ranma. "Since it appears he is already aware of magic it is not required that he be killed or otherwise silenced. However, that is no excuse to involve him in any way. Explain why I should reveal secrets about this war to an outsider."

"Well I think he deserves ta know why somebody's trying ta kill him. I know that it always pisses me off when people try ta kill me without explaining what I did ta them." Ranma started, drawing rather focused stares from the other two at his casual mention that people have tried to kill him before. "The more he knows the less likely it is that he'll do something stupid and get himself killed. Other than that like I said before he seems ta know something about this magic stuff that people keep mentioning, so he might know something useful, or at least be able ta help me understand whatever it is you're talking about."

"Very well." Saber sighed and shook her head before continuing. "I still believe this to be a poor decision, but you do have legitimate reasons for including him and I will honor that." At that Ranma couldn't help but jerk in surprise; not being used to people giving his opinions much weight.

"To begin I will explain the basics of this War. It is called the Holy Grail War and it is fought to claim possession of the Holy Grail and its ability to grant any wish."

Saber's explanation had already managed to grab Ranma's attention and he couldn't help but interrupt. "So this Grail can grant any wish right? So it can cure curses?"

"That is well within its power, yes. It is good that you apparently have a reason to seek the Holy Grail; after your earlier performance I was worried that you wouldn't take this seriously and end up dying before we could claim the Grail." Saber responded quickly, although Ranma was a little miffed that it looked like she was happy he was cursed. "The war is fought between seven Masters and their Servants with the last to survive being awarded the Holy Grail."

Shirou suddenly interrupted from the kitchen where he was still working on the refreshments. "Do you really have to kill everybody else to get the Grail? To have to kill 12 other people just to get your wish, I can't think of any wish worth that."

"Yeah, I mean I want ta get cured, but not if it means I gotta kill other people." Ranma was quick to agree with Shirou as it looked like Saber was about to snap at Shirou.

"There are certainly wishes for which 12 lives would be a cheap price to pay." Saber heatedly began. "If your convictions and beliefs are so shallow that you're not willing to kill for them then I pity you."

"Hey! A martial artist protects people he doesn't kill em!"

"Hey! I believe in saving people, not killing them!"

Both Ranma and Shirou took offense to that comment and were quick to let Saber know. After shouting at her in stereo they both followed it up with rather impressive glares.

Saber for her part looked a little shocked at the response she provoked and took a second to compose herself before she responded. "I'm sorry, I misspoke. I did not mean to insult your beliefs, but that you should be willing to do what is necessary to fulfill those beliefs." As she said this she bowed to them before continuing without waiting for a response. "We can discuss this is more detail later. For now let us return to our original discussion. In answer to your question you do not need to kill the Masters, although it is the easiest and best strategy to do so and I will explain why shortly. It is necessary to kill the Servants however. You should not view it as killing though as Servants aren't alive. Rather they are the spirits of legendary heroes brought into the world by the Holy Grail to fight for it. To kill them would just remove them from the War and send them back to the Throne of Heroes."

Ranma felt a bit better about the War now, after all if they're already dead no need to worry about killing them so he could go all out against them. "So Servants are spirits, huh? No need to hold back in that case. One thing though; I've dealt with spirits and ghosts before, but from what I've seen you guys ain't the same. I mean all the spirits I've come across have to possess something ta be able to do much and I can tell that you ain't."

"As I said the Holy Grail summons the Servants and provides a vessel for them. This is why each Servant is a different class, such as Lancer and Saber; with heroes being summoned to fill the class that suits them best." Saber looked a bit happier as she responded. Ranma figured it was 'cause he wasn't going on about not killing the Servants, although something about how she talked about them was a bit weird. "This means that if you know the class of the Servant you will also have a rough idea of their capabilities. The different classes are Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. We can go over each class in more depth at a later time, for now we should make sure you understand the general situation you are in."

Before she could continue Shirou finally returned from the kitchen with some tea and sandwiches and set them down on the table. Ranma immediately jumped on them and had scarfed down half a sandwich before Shirou could even sit down.

"Um, help yourselves." Shirou stuttered out in shock at just how fast Ranma could eat.

Amazingly enough Ranma was able to disengage from the food long enough to beckon Saber over. "Why don't you get rid of that armor and join us? The food's great!" With that done he dove back in eager to fill that bottomless pit that is his stomach.

Saber resisted the temptation for a few seconds (and likely would have resisted for much longer if she hadn't realized that if she didn't act quickly Ranma would eat all the food) before she finally dispelled her armor and sat down, grabbing a sandwich and a cup of tea.

Ranma was surprised at just how fast Saber was going through her food; she was almost keeping up with him! Even more impressive was how she was able to make it look dignified and dainty instead of imitating a vacuum cleaner like he did. If he could pick up her technique he would finally be able to eat at those fancy restaurants without getting thrown out for making a scene (at least due to his eating habits). With that thought Ranma proceeded to slow down, slightly, in his inhalation of the sandwiches to better observe just how she did it. Unfortunately she almost immediately stopped eating on feeling his gaze.

"Yes, is there something wrong? You're staring rather intensely at me all of a sudden." Saber questioned with a slight tilt of her head and a little frown. With the lack of armor and a crumb on her cheek she looked surprisingly and ridiculously cute causing Shirou to jerk in surprise. Ranma was made of tougher stuff though and only choked on his sandwich.

"Cough, cough. Nah, nothing's wrong Saber. I was just watching ya eat." Ranma explained.

"Watching me eat, why?" From Saber's expression Ranma could tell that while she was still confused about what he was doin, if he didn't provide a good explanation soon there was a chance, very small of course, that she might snap and attack him, as that's how Akane would look sometimes right before she'd belt him with that hammer of hers.

Ranma was thus quick to expand on his explanation, complete with flailing arms. "I was just trying ta figure out how you could pack so much food away without looking like a slob, that's all. I definitely wasn't staring at you cause you looked cute or anything crazy like that!" Ranma's mouth started working faster and faster as Saber's face darkened as his explanation went on until his mouth had completely detached from his brain.

Shirou was quick to rescue Ranma though, helpful guy that he is, although he wasn't suicidal enough to agree that she had looked quite cute as right now she definitely looked like a vengeful spirit. "Ah Ranma, do you mean you want figure out how she could look so elegant while eating so quickly?"

Yes, Ranma decided that Shirou was a real life saver, and also much better at this whole talking thing than him seeing as Saber no longer looked homicidal and just looked like she wanted to brain him. "Yeah that's what I meant. Sorry I'm not so good at this whole speaking politely thing; I'm more used ta insults and stuff." Ranma started babbling again although it looked like Saber actually accepted his apology and had stopped glaring at him.

"Apology accepted. I'm interested in why you're more used to insults than 'polite conversation' as you put it, but I'm more interested in why you care so much about my eating habits." Saber interrupted him, confirming that she was no longer liable to slice his head off.

"So I could do the same of course." Ranma happily replied, amazed that he managed to clear everything up for once.

"You were watching me to learn how to eat elegantly?" Saber still sounded rather confused and Shirou was also looking at him pretty weirdly.

"I don't know 'bout elegantly but yeah basically; If I could figure out how you eat then I could do the same, or something similar, and finally manage ta eat as fast as I want without pissing off the people around me and getting kicked out of restaurants. I would be able to bring the Saotome All-You-Can-Eat style to a new level!" Ranma finished his explanation with a flourish, specifically a flourish of half of a sandwich that Ranma proceeded to cram in his mouth and devour.

Saber and Shirou looked a bit stunned at the explanation, glancing at each other and back at Ranma like they thought he might be insane. Shirou found his voice first. "Well I can see why you would want to be able to eat like Saber if that's how you normally eat; I just thought that you were really hungry or something."

"Yes, I agree. Ranma I would be happy to instruct you in proper eating habits at a later time" Saber added once she had recovered. "I had thought that you were just hungry and overcome by the quality of the food."

"Thanks Saber. I'll be the best student you've ever had!" Ranma replied, surprised that Saber was willing to pass on her style so easily. "I have ta agree with you about the food; these are some amazing sandwiches and that tea was also really good. Thanks Shirou, they really hit the spot."

"Yes this was quite good, much better than I was expecting so thank you Shirou." Saber also expressed her gratitude, bowing slightly to Shirou with Ranma quickly copying her as he had forgot to earlier.

"Ah, it was the least I could do; you saved my life after all. I'm just glad you liked it." Shirou replied bowing to both of them as well.

"Now that we are all more relaxed we should return to our previous discussion of the Grail War" Saber finally said after the sandwiches were all gone and they were just sitting and sipping their tea.

"That's sounds like a good idea. Let's see we had covered the reason for the War and a bit about the Servants so I guess the Masters are the next thing to talk about?" Shirou asked

"Hey Saber, that reminds me; how did you figure out I was a Master so quickly?" Ranma added, hoping that there was some easy way to spot other Masters.

"Ranma, you have some marks on your right hand; those are known as command spells and are both the symbol and source of your status as a Master. They not only mark you as a Master but also allow you to issue three absolute orders to your Servant. You have already used one of those orders to stop me from coming to your aid in the fight against Lancer." Saber looked eerily calm while explaining how Ranma could strip away her free will, only wincing very slightly at the end.

"Hey, you're the one who wouldn't listen when I told you I had it!" Ranma shot back, unable to stop himself from sticking his foot in his mouth.

"It is a servant's duty to protect their master, even from themselves. I thought that you were delirious from blood loss and so…"

"Don't give me that. I only lost a little blood from that scratch." Ranma couldn't stop himself from interrupting at the perceived insult to his ability to lose large quantities of blood.

"The summoning array that I came from was formed from your blood."

"Like I said, barely any blood."

"You- you're serious aren't you? You really do consider that to be an insignificant amount of blood loss."

Seeing that exchange had finally slowed down a bit after Saber's stunned question Shirou jumped in. "Maybe we should get back on topic; it's getting pretty late after all."

"Shirou is correct. We will discuss your actions in detail later." Saber said this last bit with yet another impressive glare before continuing in a much calmer voice. "Command spells can be used for more than just imposing your will on your Servant. They can also be used to bend reality to allow a Servant to accomplish something normally beyond them. For example you could use a command spell to summon me to your side regardless of the distance between us. Another example is if you ordered me to 'kill my opponent' I would receive massive boost to my next attack and it would take a miracle for that opponent to survive. Finally as should be obvious if you use all of your command spells you would no longer be a Master and the bond between us would be broken and if you continue to use them to step on my pride I would then kill you." Saber said all of this in a calm, even voice as if she really was just explaining the mechanics of how the command spells worked, and not issuing a death threat.

"Woah, don't go getting pissed at me for accidentally using one of these command spells, I mean I had no idea that I could even do that." Ranma couldn't help but blurt out. Even if he did feel bad about taking away her free will he wasn't just going to sit there and let her scold him.

"That is why I informed you about how they worked, so that there would be no future accidents." Saber replied almost sweetly at the perfect set-up Ranma had given her.

"Urg, fine whatever." Ranma groused. "I wasn't planning on using them anyways. I've had people pull that sort of shit on me enough times that I want nothing ta do with it. I suppose since you know so much 'bout them that it's up ta you ta tell me when ta use them."

Saber and Shirou couldn't help but gape at the casual dismissal of the command spells and the sheer audacity in telling a Servant that it was responsible for the spells used to command it.

"You're serious aren't you; you really have no intention of using the command spells any more, even if I were to oppose your will again?" Saber asked sounding extremely skeptical.

"Of course I wouldn't use them. I've had enough love potions, funky pressure points, and other random magical potions and artifacts that I'm not 'bout to go around pulling that sort of crap on other people. When we don't agree with each other we'll just argue or fight it out."

"I find that I can't help but believe you." Saber commented with a wondering shake of her head. "While I am relieved that you will treat the command spells with the proper caution and respect they deserve I am quite worried about the rest of what you said. That you have been subject to that level of magical control and so frequently is extremely troubling, but something that can be addressed later. Of immediate concern is your proposed method for solving disputes."

"I don't get what's wrong with it." Ranma complained annoyed that she was arguing with him over how they should argue with each other. "We both tell each other how we think something should go and then try to convince the other one that we're right. If that don't work then we fight it out and the person who wins gets ta do it their way. Seems pretty simple ta me."

"I suppose that is as sophisticated a method as I could expect from you and not entirely without merit. Do you really think you could best me however?" Saber asked with a slight smirk.

"Not saying it would be easy or nothing, but yeah I could totally take ya." Ranma couldn't help but rise to meet the perceived challenge.

"Oh, you're so confident. I assure you that I am much more powerful than Spearer- I mean Lancer!" Saber stuttered out the last and immediately flushed in embarrassment at her slip.

"Its official now; there is no Lancer, only Spearer!" Ranma couldn't help but crow over Saber's slip. And yeah I know ya are, but that doesn't do you much good when ya can't kill or seriously hurt me now does it?"

Saber's continued flush and the addition of a slight twitch in her eye seemed a pretty good indication that Ranma was onto something, but before she could respond Shirou cut in.

"Um, as interesting as this is, aren't we getting off topic? Maybe we should let Saber finish explaining what's going on first?"

"Sure, I want ta get this over with myself, how 'bout you Saber?" Ranma was glad that he had Shirou there to keep things moving.

"I agree, we can discuss our differences another time, it is more important for you to know what you are getting involved in." Saber responded with the quite dignity that seemed to be her normal state, apparently completely in control of herself once again.

"As powerful as the command spells are, they aren't the only reason that Servants serve Masters despite being vastly more powerful and often prideful beings. One reason is that the easiest way for a Servant to recover mana is through the link to its Master. The most important reason however is that without a bond with a Master, a Servant will disappear from this world in a matter of hours. This is why eliminating the Masters is the quickest and easiest way to win." Saber finished her explanation with a slight grimace, so Ranma figured that she wasn't too thrilled with that method.

"I'm not going ta go around killing other Masters so that plan's out; besides if the Servants stick around for hours afterwards we'd probably end up fighting them anyways." Ranma was quick to start pointing out what was wrong with that plan in the hope that she would stop trying to convince him to kill people; unfortunately she seemed unwilling to drop it without a fight as she immediately countered his point.

"A Servant that lost its master will likely attempt to find another Master so that it can continue to fight in the War rather than attempt to fight us."

"That doesn't matter. We're not going to kill the other Masters and that's final." Ranma finally had enough and put his foot down, but before he got carried away and started ranting about her trying to force him to kill he remembered something that he needed to ask Saber. "Hey, earlier you said that the easiest way for Servants to get ki is to take it from their Masters like yer doing ta me right now, right?"

"I said mana not ki, but yes that is correct."

"We're going ta need to go over this whole ki and mana thing later before it gets really confusing." Ranma pondered aloud as he really didn't feel up to having an in-depth discussion of meta-physics and energy manipulation this late at night, or ever really.

While Ranma was pondering that and trying to remember where he was going with his question Shirou started to collect the sandwich platter and tea cups. As he started to take them back to the kitchen he tripped over the first-aid kit and ended up launching everything at Ranma, including the now cold tea that was in the tea cups.

"What I wanted ta ask ya-" Just then Ranma noticed the incoming missiles and quickly grabbed all of them out of the air and had everything perfectly placed back on the platter almost instantly as his waitressing instincts took over.

"Hey Shirou you OK?" Ranma asked but for some reason Shirou wasn't responding and instead just staring open-mouthed at Ranma. Ranma shrugged and figured that they must have pretty tame restaurants around here for him to be that shocked by the display; conveniently missing the way Shirou reacted to said shrug.

"I'll just take these inta the kitchen for ya, alright?" With that Ranma went into the kitchen and left Saber and Shirou to stare at each other in shock before he reappeared and started heading back to his seat.

"R-Ranma would you please explain what just happened" Saber finally managed to choke out as Ranma sat back down.

"Huh, all I did was grab some stuff outta the air, 'course getting it all on the platter with everything in the proper place without any rattling or nothing is a bit higher level, but it's still a pretty basic skill of Anything-goes Waitressing." Ranma explained a bit confused about why Saber was so shaken as she hadn't seemed the type to get rattled by something like that. "Why're you so shocked, I pulled off stuff a lot more impressive against Spearer earlier."

"That wasn't what I was referring to. You do know that you turned into a female correct? If Shirou didn't look so shocked I might have believed that he cast a spell on you but that since that doesn't seem to be the case hopefully you can explain what happened." Saber finally wound down after spitting all that out. Ranma made a mental note that Saber tended to ramble when shocked as she got ready to explain Jusenkyo.

"Remember when I said I was cursed? Well this is what I was talking 'bout, although now that I think 'bout it I should try to get all my curses cured." Ranma mused before continuing her explanation. "Anyway, yeah I turn into a girl when I'm splashed with cold water and turn back inta a guy with hot water. I got it from Jusenkyo, which is a training ground filled with cursed springs that will curse whoever falls inta them to change inta the form of whatever drowned in that spring. I fell inta the spring of drowned girl while my pops fell inta the spring of drowned panda."

"Ah, that is undoubtedly a most aggravating and unfortunate curse." Saber said with a sympathetic wince and oddly understanding look on her face.

Ranma was only too happy to air her complaints about the curse to a sympathetic ear and quickly launched into his own rant. "Yeah you said it. I mean it's bad enough to turn inta a girl after being told all my life 'bout how I was to be a man among men and junk, but the curse also turned me inta a water magnet so I get splashed all the time. Not only that but I always seem ta get turned inta a girl or back inta a guy at the worst possible moment. The damn curse causes so many misunderstanding, causes people ta treat me like a freak or a pervert, attracts all sorts of attention I don't want, and makes me weaker. All of that on top being turned inta a girl! I've tried ta cure it at least a dozen times, but it never seems ta work out so I really hope this all powerful cup or whatever can finally do the job." Ranma with a sigh and sat back down; having stood up and paced during her impassioned rant.

Noticing the slightly shell-shocked expressions on their faces, well extremely shell-shocked on Shirou, she quickly apologized for the rant. "Sorry 'bout that; the stupid curse screwed up my life even more than normal recently so I'm a bit touchy 'bout it still." Ranma explained sheepishly while scratching at the base of her pigtail and remembering that damned failed wedding and how she was still dealing with the fallout from it.

"Ah, no its good to get that sort of stuff off of your chest" Shirou finally said after finding his voice; although he lost it again when his little speech drew his attention to what Ranma would much rather have off her chest.

"You have my sympathies; that sounds even worse than I had expected." Saber chimed in, still with that same understanding look on her face. "I will be honored to work with you to claim the Grail and cure your curse. I am curious though, what other curses are you afflicted by?"

"Ah, thanks; I'm glad ta have yer help." Ranma mumbled, hoping that was a proper response while wishing that her pops had bothered to teach her how to deal with people who weren't out to kill or maim her. "I ain't entirely sure what other curses I got on me right now. I get cursed at least once a month so it's hard ta keep track. The last one had me talking like a pirate for a week."

"Talk like a pirate? Why? Who would use a curse like that?" Shirou asked bemusedly.

"Well, Gos was trying ta raise the ghost of Dread Pirate Rogers ta torment me, but he flubbed the spell and instead I got semi-possessed by the ghost of Rogers' parrot. Not much in the way of torment, but blurting out random pirate talk was annoying. Anyways, I think I got rid of all the other curses on me, but I ain't positive so better to be safe and just ask ta cure all my curses right?"

"A good idea." Saber replied a bit faintly. "It sounds as if you live a very eventful and dangerous life" Saber continued after she recovered from her shock. "I would be very interested in hearing more at a later time, but for now we should return to our previous discussion so that we can finish it gets too late."

"Oh, right! Let's see I think I had a question for ya before I got splashed, now what was it?" Ranma started racking her brain, but before he could remember what it was Shirou interrupted him.

"Do you think you could change back before we continue? It's kind of distracting…" Shirou trailed off embarrassed.

"Oops, I forgot all 'bout that. Thanks fer the reminder Shirou."

With that Ranma quickly stood and went into the kitchen to get some hot water. Since she figured Saber and Shirou would want to see him change he just filled a cup with hot water and grabbed a towel before heading back out. Once he had their attention he quickly upended the cup over himself and nearly chuckled at their looks when they saw him change from a small well-developed red-head to his much larger male form.

After sitting down he started up the discussion once more. "Well I remembered what I wanted ta ask ya Saber." After seeing her motion for him to continue he did just that. "What're the other ways for Servants ta get ki or mana or whatever?"

"Servants can forcibly drain mana from people, often killing them in the process. In fact this is the quickest way for a servant to build up their mana reserves so we can expect several Servants to do this, regardless of how much mana they are receiving from their Masters. It is a despicable, dishonorable act and you would have to use a command spell to force me to perform such an act." Saber explained in voice that was completely dead and devoid of feeling, which did more to impress on Ranma just how opposed she was to such acts than her words did.

He was thus quick to assure her that nothing of the sort would ever happen. "Woah, nobody's going to be draining anybody on my watch, so calm down already."

Saber winced slightly for some reason at that before responding. "I apologize for forming hasty and faulty assumptions of you. I should have remembered how adamantly opposed you were to killing and realized that you had a different reason for asking your question."

With that she gave a slight bow of her head towards Ranma.

"Wait, so you thought that I was askin' cause I was looking fer a way to give you a power up?" Ranma questioned before deciding to just move on to the real reason he had asked the question. "I was askin' cause I'm tryin' ta figure out if these Servants are the ones behind the murders and 'gas leaks' that put people in comas."

"It is highly likely that a Servant or more likely Servants are behind these cases, especially if they started occurring in the past week or two. As the War has yet to truly start they are likely to commit even worse atrocities as the War continues." Saber confirmed his suspicions with a serious look on her face.

"Well then our first priority is to find and stop the ones behind them as soon as possible. That fine with you?" Ranma asked Saber.

"Yes. The quicker we can stop them the better." Saber agreed almost instantly.

After that exchange Shirou looked at Ranma with fire burning in his eyes before practically begging him. "Ranma, you said that you're here to stop whoever's doing this right? Then please let me help you. I can't just sit idly by while innocents are being killed." Ranma was impressed by just how determined Shirou was; before he had seemed like a nice, easy-going kid, but now he was deadly serious and looked like he was going to go out and kick those Servants' asses all by himself.

"Well, this is way bigger and nastier than I thought it would be, so I suppose I could use all the help I can get, but what exactly can you do? You said you're a mage or something so I suppose you have some sweet spells or maybe some potions that could help, right?" As loathe as Ranma was to admit that he might need help he figured that things were serious enough that he had to bite the bullet this time. His decision had nothing to do with how delicious those sandwiches were and wanting to find out how good a real meal would be, nope that didn't factor in at all.

"Ah, well I'm actually sort of a failure of a mage." Shirou admitted, looking down at the table with a flush on his face. "My father only taught me some of the basics and didn't pass down his mage crest to me."

"Mage crest?" Ranma was quick to enquire, figuring that if the other Masters were mages then he really needed to know more about them.

"You don't know what a mage crest is?" Shirou looked shocked; apparently he still thought that Ranma was a mage as well.

"Nope, I'm a martial artist, not a mage and most of the magic I've run across is from potions and magic artifacts, not some spell-slinger, so I know jack-all 'bout mages." Neither Shirou nor Saber looked particularly happy about that, probably 'cause that meant yet more explanations would be needed and Ranma figured they were as sick of those as he was.

"Well a Magic crest is essentially a repository of all a clan's magical knowledge that is inscribed on the heir's body. The mage is then able to use any spell in the crest simply by activating it instead of having to learn and perform the spell themselves." Shirou explained quickly.

"So what yer sayin' is that you can't actually do much." Ranma stated, getting back to Shirou's original explanation. "Then what about that metal pipe? You did something ta it when we first got here."

"That was Reinforcement. Basically I can use my magic to fix impurities in objects and strengthen them. It's also possible to use reinforcement on yourself, but I'm nowhere good enough to do that yet." Shirou admitted with a small shrug. "The only other magic I can do is Projection. That's where I use my magic to create a copy of an object, but I'm barely able to actually make anything and fail most times I try." Shirou finished with a grimace, but Ranma noted that the fire was still burning strong in his eyes.

"Saber? What do you think?" Ranma figured that Saber would know best just how useful Shirou's skills would be in the War; although Ranma thought they sounded pretty pathetic.

"Useless." There was no pity or scorn in her voice; instead it was the calm steady voice of an expert stating a simple fact. "A Servant could kill him instantly and any competent Master would have all the skills he has and many more besides. In a battle he would be nothing but a liability."

Rather than shrink down from the brutal critique Shirou weathered it with nothing more than a wince and a grimace before he leapt right back into the fray. "Even if I can't fight then there must be other things I can do to help. I can't turn away as long as there's some way for me to help." Shirou pleaded with an almost pained look on his face.

"Well what'd you have in mind?"

Shirou had to pause and actually think at that, but quickly came up with something. "Well, I know the town, so I could help you search for what you're looking for?"

"That won't be necessary; I am familiar with the town and you coming with us on patrol would just end with you in a battle." Saber was again quick to shut Shirou down.

"Wait, how do you know the town? I thought you were a legendary hero from the past?" Ranma asked. Saber actually winced at that so Ranma figured that he was onto something.

"That is something that we can discuss later. It is too complicated to get into right now."

"Alright; it's not like we haven't put off a lot of more important things already."

While all this was going on Shirou just sat there with his face scrunched up, thinking hard. Just as Ranma was finishing his reply Shirou began speaking again, too caught up in his new thought to notice that Ranma was still speaking. "Even if I can't patrol with you I can still be on the lookout for anything unusual and let you know if I find anything. I mean those Servants I saw were fighting at my school and I think the Master was wearing the school uniform. Not only that but you could use my house as your base and I'd be happy to cook meals for you."

"Hell yeah- I mean that sounds like a pretty good plan. This place would make a much better base than the crappy hotel room I'm in right now; I don't think I could even fit Saber in there at all." Ranma was of course enthused to get a proper place to stay and good food, but then he remembered that he still had to convince Saber to go along with it, as she looked like she still disapproved of the whole idea. "Hey, Shirou d'ya think you could leave us alone fer a bit while we talk it over? And I won't let you eavesdrop this time."

"That's fine. I'll just go to the storehouse in the back and see if I have any glass to replace the door with. Just come get me when you're done." Shirou then stood up and left, leaving Ranma and Saber alone.

"I am opposed to this." Saber started right up once they were sure that Shirou was gone. "We have no way of knowing how trustworthy this Emiya is. We have no true need of the help he can provide. Finally, by having him help us in such a way we would be putting him right back into the danger that you saved him from not two hours ago." Saber didn't look particularly angry as she said this, but instead just very stubborn and slightly exasperated.

"Oy Saber, remember what I said earlier? My 'base' right now is a tiny hotel room in a seedy inn. On top of that I only have enough money ta afford instant food and there's no way that'll give me enough energy ta fight a bunch of legendary heroes or whatever." Ranma couldn't help grimacing at the mere thought; as well as at remembering how those cheapskates on the city council would only cover his hotel room and not his food and refused to pay him anything until he finished the job. "Anyways, he seems pretty trustworthy ta me. I mean he hasn't tried ta kill or even hit me once. Hell he hasn't even gotten pissed off at me at all!"

As Ranma finished he noticed that Saber was once again looking at him strangely, probably over what he had just said, but hey he couldn't help it if everybody he knew was crazy.

"I am beginning to dread hearing about your life if that is how you measure how trustworthy somebody is." Saber shook her head as she said this before she continued. "I was referring more to whether we could trust him to keep our secrets not if he would try to kill us."

"Fine, we won't start telling him all our deep, dark secrets alright?" Ranma was getting a bit tired of how Saber just wouldn't let it drop; although it was better than the yelling matches he normally got into with people, those usually ended in a fight or a mallet.

"Very well, I suppose you have addressed my two main concerns with this course of action, but what about his safety? Surely we could find another source of food and lodgings that wouldn't put an innocent at risk."

"Sure, I could come up with something if I had ta, but I'd really rather not if I could avoid it. Besides I am trying ta keep Shirou safe, that's why I want him helping us."

"That doesn't make sense. How would helping us put him at less risk?"

"Did ya see his eyes and how he acted? That guy's got some serious fire in him and he's not goin' ta just drop this and do nothing now that he knows a bit about what's goin' on. If we don't let him help us he'd probably go on patrols by himself or something." Ranma hoped that Saber bought this crap; after all he wasn't going to give up on Shirou's cooking, but this was the last semi-believable reason he had left. If this didn't work then the only thing left would be to have Shirou cook a mouth-watering feast to tempt her.

"He did seem very determined" Saber mused on this for a bit before giving a short nod. "Very well, I will support this course of action, even if I think that it is likely to invite more problems than it will solve."

"Awesome! You're the best Saber." Ranma couldn't help but shout in joy and beam at Saber at the thought of all the delicious food that was sure to come. "Well, we should go tell Shirou the good news right now so let's just head out to the storehouse now."

"Yes! It's all about the delicious food!" Ranma couldn't help but whisper in victory as he headed toward the shed.

"Indeed" Saber muttered from behind, apparently her hearing was better than Ranma expected. She then froze and flushed red when Ranma turned around after catching what she said. They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Saber walked past Ranma, leaning close to whisper to him. "This never happened; is that understood?" Ranma nodded numbly, wisely choosing to keep his mouth shut. With that done they both headed to find Shirou.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the lack of action this chapter, but I had to stick all that exposition in there somewhere. Hopefully the comedic breaks were enough to keep you awake. Now that I'm done apologizing let's get started talking about what I was trying to accomplish so that you can tell me how I did. My main goal this chapter was to cover as much of the set-up and explanations as I could while still keeping the chapter fast-paced and interesting. Should I continue to try and spice up future exposition scenes like I did here or should I just get it out as quickly as possible? My other major goal was to get Shirou involved in the story and keep him involved. Did I make it believable, or did it come across as forced (by me, not Ranma's taste buds)? On a related note did I do a good job portraying Shirou, or did he come across as being OOC? My final question has to do with Ranma. I tried to make his speech very rough and informal, did this help make him sound more like Ranma, or just annoy you?

As a special bonus for those of you who read this far I present Chapter 4 "Berserker!" Sneak Preview:

Our heroes venture out into the night to visit a haunting church, what will they learn there? A devastating new opponent appears! Can our heroes work together to overcome this threat? Finally what horrors are brewing in the Emiya house? Be prepared, as the next chapter might answer some of these questions.


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